Democrats set their focus a tad lower on the ticket

As Cuomo apparently rolls up score, the party intrigue is in other races

By JIMMY VIELKIND Capitol bureau

Published 12:43 am, Monday, November 1, 2010

NEW YORK -- Andrew Cuomo is coasting to victory, but a poll released Sunday showed other Democrats in the state are having a harder time than their standard-bearer ahead of Tuesday's election.

So the party's heavyweights sought to spread their support and encourage the base to turn out for Sen. Eric Schneiderman, a Manhattanite running for attorney general, and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who is seeking election to a post he was appointed to by legislators in 2007.

"Andrew Cuomo is safe; he's going to be the next governor of this state," said New York City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez during a sidewalk rally in the largely Latino Washington Heights neighborhood. "Now we have to ensure that Schneiderman and DiNapoli are going to be winning with him."

More Information

Cuomo put a wrinkle in that, first mentioning DiNapoli during his remarks but then refusing to endorse him at a noontime rally on the Upper West Side. Cuomo stopped in that neighborhood -- known for supporting progressive Democrats -- on a mobile stage with gigantic speakers to broadcast Cuomo's message around the city. He also held rallies on Staten Island and the Bronx, where he spoke Spanish. Saturday, Cuomo rallied Democrats in Ballston Lake.

"We are going to stand up and we are going to say, 'You can't divide us. You don't know who we are as a people and you don't know what kind of state we are if you thought you could,'" Cuomo said to 100 people at the West Side rally.

The poll, conducted by Siena Research Institute, showed Cuomo leading Buffalo developer Carl Paladino 58-33. The poll showed that 44 percent is the magic number for DiNapoli and Schneiderman: both men are tied with their respective Republican challengers, Harry Wilson and Dan Donovan, and 12 percent of voters are undecided.

Cuomo appeared with Schneiderman on the West Side and in the Bronx, but DiNapoli was absent from both events, apparently not invited. "I'm officially neutral in that race, so I'll leave it at that," Cuomo said. He later explained that his investigations of DiNapoli's office as attorney general -- for which DiNapoli was eventually exonerated -- explained his arm's-length approach.

DiNapoli, shaking hands with street vendors and trick-or-treaters in Washington Heights, said Cuomo's nonsupport wasn't news. "From the beginning this has been an independent race, it continues to be that, and we're going to get the support of the public, that's what you need," DiNapoli said. "We have a ticket that people should be voting for from the very top all the way through."

He must have smiled at 200 people in a span of four blocks, as a man shouted "Vote for Democrats! The whole line! Let nobody stay home!" in Spanish. Democrats have ramped up their voter turnout efforts, which have been less of a concern for Cuomo, partially as an effect of his campaign.

It has been criticized by Republicans as a "Rose Garden strategy," and since announcing his candidacy Cuomo has espoused a fiscally conservative message aimed more at suburban swing voters than other traditional Democrat supporters.

Last week, Cuomo laid down a gauntlet with unions, particularly those representing teachers, hospital workers and public employees. But in Ballston Lake, he was confident they would turn out. "Look, no one more than labor unions understand that we have to get the state's economy running because we have to produce jobs. They get it," he said.

But some lower-ballot elected officials have privately expressed concerns to Cuomo about his lack of coattails, and Daniel Paster, attending the Upper West Side rally, said he would be drawn out not by Cuomo but by Schneiderman. "Part of the reason I'm not as excited about Cuomo is that Paladino has made his election a foregone conclusion, whereas I'm excited about Schneiderman," he said.

Still, Democrats used Paladino to try to frighten the voters to come out. "The differences are clear. We have Carl Paladino, who has no record. All he can do is send out repugnant racist e-mails, make sexist, sexist statements," said Assemblyman Keith Wright, D-Harlem, and chairman of the Manhattan Democratic Party.

Cuomo said he wouldn't predict turnout, but other Democrats acknowledged it would be lower than 2008, when Barack Obama's candidacy drew record numbers to the polls. Despite that, Wright said "Democrats will come home" for everyone, including Schneiderman and DiNapoli.